People hardly give a second thought before shoeing away street kids or avoiding them as if they don’t exist. Chandni Khan was born in the slums of Noida, a place several kids take birth and die in oblivion. But she refused to lay back and make her peace with her grim destiny as she climbed out of the darkness and is now extending her hand to pull others out of it too.

Chandni recalls, “From the age of five, I used to travel along with my father to perform street magic shows, dance and play with snakes, even late at night. I also picked up rags during that time.” Like most other slum kids she started stumbling through various odd jobs to contribute to the family’s earning.

Things further deteriorated for her when her father passed away and the onus of the earing for the family fell upon her shoulders as she started working under someone who paid her a meager sum of Rs. 30 per day. It got worse when she shifted entirely to rag picking at the age of 7 but all of this changed for her the day she met some NGO volunteers who helped her get enrolled with Badhte Kadam.

“At the age of seven, I had shifted to rag picking. Verbal abuses and dog bites became a part of my daily routine and at the end, I ended up in jail over false accusations of stealing. I kept changing my job, from selling flowers to corn, I was doing it all. During one of these monotonous days, I got lucky and met a few NGO volunteers who were educating children from the slums. It was then I discovered my purpose and enrolled myself with Badhte Kadam,” she narrates her story.

Chandni, who is now 20 years old, was 10 when she got enrolled in an open school and began her education. She is in class 11 now. Soon after beginning her studies she realized its importance and started inspiring communities to send their kids to study.

She worked intensively with Badhte Kadam and helped them impact as many kids as possible. Her contribution was duly recognized as she was appointed District Secretary and then got promoted to the post of National Secretary.

She recollects her first challenge as she says, “It was not long before when I met my first challenge – a couple of children were imprisoned after being accused of stealing. I remembered the horror of the day I was in prison and went to the police station to get the children released. It was one of my proud moments and it was then when my life took a turn for the better.”

She also started working for a newspaper for the slum kids called Balaknama, became a reporter for it and then, later on, became the editor. She collected stories of street children addressing the issues like sexual abuse, child labor, police brutality etc. and also narrated stories of hope and happiness. But she later left Balaknama as they did not look after under-aged kids and Chandni felt that there was a lot to be done in that area. That is when she conceived Voice of Slum.

Voice of Slum now works for the basic needs of these underprivileged children and organizes various activities for the same. They work towards health and nutrition, education, and shelter for these kids. Chandni shares, “We connect with them through street plays to generate interest and build confidence. Then gradually, we start educating them; we work at skill development, personality training, leadership training, and self-defense.”

Chandni also edits the magazine Slum Post which is a digital portal that publishes submissions from these street children. Chandni is well aware of how potent social media is and wants to milk it for the advantage of the street kids.

The moment the word ‘slum’ is prefixed to the word ‘kids’ something happens that makes them invisible to the world, and they cease being kids. Chandni Khan is one of the very few who escaped out of this mire. The efforts that she is putting to get others out of the darkness is every bit laudable and we salute the efforts of this determined girl.

H/T: Your Story